The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-30
GARDEN IMPLEMENTS.
Useful Machines for the Cultivation of the
Tegetable Crou.

Useful Machines for the Cultivation of the
Vegetable Crop.
The cultivation OF a garden should
be as perfect as possible. Usually it is
supposed that hand woIk is better than
machine work. snd that the spade and
hoe and rake are more effective than
the plow and harrow and culb~ator.
But this is great mistake. In every
other industry machinery has been
better and more effective than hand
work Machine-made watches keep
better time; power looms make better
cloth; and all other machinery turn
out more and better work than the
hands, however skillful they may be-
come by use and habit. The plow
turns over the soil as well as the spade
and ten times more quickly; the har-
row pulverizes and levels the soil. and
the cultivator works and cleans it
equally better than the rake and hoe.
In market gardens this fact is turned
to account, and the horse does the
mechanical labor, and the man uses
his brains and guides the horse.
But the farm and domestic garden
need a good deal of light manual work,
although the heavy work may be done
by horses. To accomplish this the gar
den is, or should be, laid out in long
-parall elogram, so that everything can
be planted or sown in rows and cult
waited as infield work. Then small
g eel pillow, light sloping tooth har-
row, and good horse hoe will cODsti-
tate the garden tools. Some hand hoe
ing. however, will be found necessary,
and for this several of these useful
implements will be required. A heavy,
broad hoe, a narrow-bladed one. a
pronged one and a forked one are
necessary tn different uses.
Now that injurious insects are so
numerous and so destructive, a new set
Of apparatus is needed to preserve the
crops from them. A barrel mounted
upon hand truck, with force pump
and spraying nozzle, are Indispensable
for the orchard; Paris green distrib-
utor is needed for the potatoes; kero-
-seue oil emulsion spraying syringe Is
required for the onions and melons, and
an insect powder distributor must be
used to save the cabbages from the
green worm. All these new pests call
for new appliances for their destruction,
and no garden is well furnished without
them. But there are small gar
liens, such as those in towns and
suburban localities where horses are
mot kept and hard work is still in
dispensable. Then is found the advan-
;tage of the most effective hand ma
chimes. The hand pillow is the first of
these. 1t is a small pillow mounted on a
wheeled frame something like that of n
light wheelbarrow. 1t turns a furrow
five inches deep and about as wide, and
lis one of the most useful tools that can
be kept about a country house. We
have plowed quarter of an acre with
it in day.
Seed drills are another useful hand
machine which save much backache
and leg WEAKNESS in sowing seeds. An
acre may be sown in fore noon with
any kind of seed. For sowing field
Ibeets. mangels, turnips or p cas- they are
as useful as in the garden, but here
they are so useful that no garden should
be without one of them. Some of these
valuable little machines are made to
serve as cultivators as well, but as they
are cheap we prefer to have machine
for each separate purpose and SO keep
: it always ready for use.
A garden wheelbarrow is another
necessary implement. This should be
made with a set of boxes for seeds and
nests for cultivator teeth. spare bolts,
wrench, reel and line and other art
Giles always wanted. A friend, who
was an enthusiastic gardener, fitted up
one of these vehicles with seat anu
large umbrella over it and would there
rest himself occasionally when tired
with work IN the hot weather, or when
surprised by a sudden light summer
shower. 1t saved many steps back and
forth. as it carried complete outfit of
tools, seeds, fertilizers and whatever
articles might be needed in the days
work. A complete supply of stakes,
Lars, hoops, boxes, pots, panes of glass,
etc, for making trellises, nursing
boxes for young, tender plants, and
supports for beans and peas; steel
trowel for trsnsplanting. a pruning
knife. pair of thick, leather gloves,
pruning saw, and whatever experience
may dictate should be provided Iiber-
ally for the garden, and a place made
for every thing and every thing kept in
its place. And this calls for a conYen-
lent tool house.-N. Y. Times.
MaIformation of the Eye.
"a strange case of malformation of